The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of prison violence. To meet this goal, thirteen men were interviewed at the Special Handling Unit, a Canadian unit specifically designed to accommodate the security needs of individuals who have previously used, or are suspected of having used, serious acts of violence within a correctional setting. More precisely, the point of view of these men was collected regarding general prison life, the means they use in order to adapt to imprisonment as well as the way they justify the use of violence in this environment.
The results of this research project suggest that prisons are hostile and unpredictable environments. Incarcerated individuals perceive a constant threat of violence to themselves. In a constant state of alert to survive, inmates use different strategies to deal with the difficult situations they encounter within the prison walls. Violence is only one of the means used by inmates to adapt to their environment and has many different forms such as interpersonal violence, collective violence, self-directed violence, escapism or destruction. Such violent acts may serve as signs that violence and victimization are taking place in an environment. Since the violent conduct of an individual tends to increase the risk of using violence for another, with the subsequent consequences to inmates and correctional personnel, we attempted to comprehend the different logics that support violent action within prisons.
As such, it appears that certain individual traits tend to increase the likelihood that a person will resort to violence as a solution. The data also suggests that violence is a more common response in some institutions rather than in others. Furthermore, this study has found relationships between individual and prison environmental characteristics that tend to highly increase the possibility that an inmate will choose violence. More precisely, it is more probable that violence will be used by a person: if it is legitimized by that individual as well as the environment; if the individual’s level of compliance to the values of delinquent subcultures is high and these subcultures are supported by the philosophy of the environment where he is placed; if influential groups seeking power and control are present within the institution and the individual wishes to associate with such groups; if illicit markets were created in the prison as a response to deprivation and the inmate has involvement in such markets; and if both the individual and the environment are in a state of helplessness due to their focus on survival. In conclusion, a reflection concerning the inmate’s need for safety, which is a common basic need for all human beings, an overview of the data obtained in this project pertaining to theoretical models offered by past literature on prison violence as well as thoughts on strategies available to inmates and prisons to limit the risk of violence being used are presented.